The best tips for a rich harvest

These vegetables are particularly straightforward

If you don't have a lot of experience with growing vegetables, it is best to fall back on these uncomplicated types of vegetables:

• Beans: Bush beans in particular do not need a lot of care and are rich in yield. Just sow them after the Ice Saints. Since this type of bean is only 40 to 50 centimeters high, supporting structures are also not necessary.
• garlic: If you like garlic, simply stick a few cloves (with the tip up!) Into the bed in spring or autumn. The plant then grows almost by itself. Incidentally, garlic and strawberries can be wonderfully socialized, as the tubers keep many pests away from the strawberry plants.
• Kohlrabi: Kohlrabi is also very easy: The young plants come into the vegetable patch and grow there until the tubers are thick enough for the harvest.
• Herbs: Herbs like chives, parsley etc. must not be missing in any garden. They are indispensable in the kitchen and usually very straightforward in terms of culture.
• Swiss chard: Mangold is also unknown to many people, but it is very easy to pull, tasty and healthy. The brightly colored stems can be seen as early as eight to ten weeks after the sowing are harvested and grow back again and again.
• radish: Radishes can be sown almost all year round and harvested after just four weeks.
• Beetroot: Beetroot is also wonderfully easy to cultivate, and you can also leave the tubers in the ground in winter and simply harvest them as needed. To do this, cover the bed with a protective layer of straw.
• salad: Whether cut or picked lettuce: Almost all types of lettuce are fast-growing and uncomplicated. The plants should be fertilized little, but always need a slightly moist soil.
• Jerusalem artichoke: The healthy tubers of this type of sunflower are still little known in this country, but they are delicious, versatile vegetables. In addition, the large flowers of the plants, which can be up to three meters high, decorate every garden. But be careful: Definitely one Root lock install, as Jerusalem artichoke tends to grow.
• zucchini: Zucchini plants become huge and accordingly need a lot of space. Provided with sufficient water and standing in a sunny and warm location, it becomes a Family of four with just one or two plants with the delicious all summer long Fruits supplied.
• Onions: Onions are just as straightforward as garlic: Simply buy onions and stick them in the ground. The plants practically grow by themselves.

Herbs and lettuce are particularly easy to grow

The vegetables listed are particularly robust and easily forgive one or the other mistake. Nevertheless, you can hope for a rich harvest, as long as the summer is not too cold and rainy. If you garden together with your (small) children, it is best for the little ones to have their own vegetable patch in which they can switch and do what they want. Prefer fast-growing vegetables that can also be nibbled directly from the bed: radishes or sugar peas, for example, are ideal.

When can which vegetables be added to the bed?

Now that you have decided which vegetables to put in the vegetable garden, it is time to prepare the soil. Loosen the Garden soil good and as deep as possible, so that the plants can take deep roots later. It is best to undertake work such as digging in autumn so that the ground lies fallow over the winter and the frost can refine the thick crumbs of earth. You can also do this before digging Green manure (e.g. B. Phacelia) sow, let emerge and later undermine.

Sowing calendar

The classic way to order your vegetable garden is of course in spring. However, not all vegetables are allowed in the bed at the same time, as some cannot tolerate frost and should therefore be planted out as late as possible. Others, on the other hand, can also be grown later in the year - for example as a so-called follow-up crop - so that the vegetable patches are used in the best possible way from spring to autumn. The following overview shows you when you can sow the most popular vegetables.

Spinach can be sown as early as the end of March

When sowing in September, however, you will not harvest the vegetables that will grow from them until the following March. The exception here is the late-sown arugula, which you can harvest as early as October. Otherwise, you can sow the mentioned vegetables directly in the bed, but also plant them as pre-grown young plants. With the latter option, you will harvest faster.

Digression

Which vegetables are better to choose?

Note crop rotation

Lettuce is often grown as a preculture

Vegetable beds want to be used well thought out and should be as little fallow as possible. For this reason, you do not only grow a single vegetable variety on a bed, but combine so-called vegetables Main crops with previous and subsequent crops. Main crops are species that have a long growing period and therefore take a long time in the bed. These species are usually only put into the bed in May / June, which is why fast-growing precultures are ideal. After the harvest, however, you cultivate secondary crops.

If possible, choose plants from different plant families and with different nutrient requirements for the staggered cultivation planning. For example, no high eater should go to a high eater - i.e. no plant with a high Nutritional needs on an equally - to be cultivated, but better a kind with a lower one Follow demand. The following overviews will help you choose the right combinations.

Table 1: Pre, main and minor crops

Table 2: Plant families

The eggplant belongs to the nightshade family

When rotating crops, make sure that vegetables from the same plant family do not follow one another. Proven combinations are, for example, spinach before carrots, French beans after potatoes or lamb's lettuce after cabbage.

Nutritional requirements of plants

Before planting out or Sowing strongly consuming vegetable plants - i.e. those with a high nutrient requirement - the vegetable patch should be supplied with organic fertilizers. Compost and Horn shavings,(€ 32.93 at Amazon *) but also rotted manure. Salads and leafy vegetables, in particular, should only be fertilized lightly, as otherwise too many harmful nitrates will accumulate in the leaves.

For healthier plants: mixed culture

This video gives you lots of great, tried and tested tips for imitating yourself in your own garden:

Video:

Mixed culture means that you are growing not just one type of vegetable in the bed, but several different ones. This mix keeps the plants strong and healthy so they can more easily fight off disease and pests. As a result, you need fewer chemical pesticides and gardening is completely organic. These tips will help you so that the mixed culture succeeds and the individual plants complement each other well:

• Do not cultivate plants from the same plant family together.
• Don't just plant high eaters in the vegetable patch, but high, medium and low eaters.
• This prevents the soil from becoming excessively depleted.
• Plant slow-growing vegetables next to fast-growing ones, with the slower ones best in the middle of the bed and the fast ones at the edge.
• Place deep-rooted vegetables (carrots, black salsify, radishes) next to flat-rooted vegetables (salads and other leafy vegetables, herbs).
• Plant herbs in the bed or use them as a Border.

Garlic and strawberries are a real dream couple

We have summarized for you which herbs go particularly well with which vegetables in the following table:

Digression

How to keep snails out of vegetable patches

Caring for vegetables properly

So that the vegetable plants grow well and you can bring in a rich harvest, you should take good care of the beds. A vegetable garden is a lot of work, but it also keeps you fit and rewards you. Pay particular attention to these tips:

• to water: Vegetable plants need a lot of water, especially when they are ripe, and should not be exposed to drought stress. Water the vegetable patch preferably in the morning, as well as vigorous and penetrating. On particularly hot days, take care of your plants again in the early evening. However, never pour over the leaves, always pour it directly on the ground!
• Fertilize: The vegetable patch should already be supplied with compost and rotted manure in autumn of the previous year so that the nutrients enter the soil and the humus content increases. Plants with a medium to high nutrient requirement should also be provided with organic fertilizers during the growing season. For this purpose, you should preferably apply compost and horn shavings when planting and again in June / July.
• weed weed: Regular weeding is essential so that the vegetables can grow and do not have to compete with other plants for light and nutrients. Unfortunately, there is no way around it. Suitable tool (e.g. B. however, a long-handled weed hoe will make your job easier. On this occasion, loosen the soil regularly so that water can penetrate better and the surface does not harden.
• Mulching: Mulching the vegetable patch not only helps retain moisture in the soil longer and suppress weeds. Suitable materials - such as green cuttings - are also great as additional fertilizers and will rot quickly.

frequently asked Questions

Which vegetables can be stored particularly well?

Most vegetables should be fresh or prepared or prepared within three days at the latest. can be made durable. Potatoes, pumpkins and some root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radishes, black salsify, onions and garlic can be stored for a longer period of time. However, a prerequisite for a long shelf life is storage in a dark, cool and dry place. In addition, the stored vegetables should be freed from all leaves and the peel should be intact.

What is the best way to preserve vegetables?

Leafy vegetables in particular should be cleaned, briefly blanched and then frozen immediately after harvest. In fact, almost all types of vegetables - cut into small bite-sized pieces - can be frozen well and can be kept for at least six months. In contrast, traditional boiling or boiling is a bit more complex to produce, but has a longer shelf life and is also more resource-saving. Awakening.

Are there also vegetables that can be grown in winter?

Typical winter vegetables that defy freezing temperatures are, for example, lamb's lettuce, beetroot, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, white cabbage, Kale, chicory, black salsify, turnips (referred to as "Wrucken" in northern Germany) or the less well-known Jerusalem artichoke.

What vegetables can I grow on the balcony?

Basically, pretty much any vegetable can be grown on the balcony. Please note, however, that plants grown in planters need significantly more care than in the vegetable patch: regular watering and fertilize is compulsory, otherwise diseases will occur and the harvest will be meager. Incidentally, bush and bush tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, salads, beans, sugar peas and Swiss chard work particularly well.